The National Democratic Alliance government headed by Narendra Modi is said to have taken serious note of the alleged irregularities going on in the multi-purpose Polavaram project on Godavari river and the unusual escalation in the project cost over the last three years.

Following instructions from the government, a Parliamentary Standing Committee is going to visit Polavaram project on August 18 to study its progress and submit a report to the Centre.

The committee is expected to go through all the documents and the progress of work done so far to see why there was so much cost escalation and whether it would be able to complete the project well within the deadline.

The Centre has already made it clear in its order of December 23, 2016, before releasing Rs 1,981 crore for Polavaram project that it should be completed by March 31, 2018.

If the State government fails to complete project as per schedule, the financial aid provided to Andhra Pradesh for its execution will be treated as loan.

It means that the future the loan component to the State from Centre will be provided after deducting Rs 1,981 crore.

The opposition parties are now demanding that the Naidu government should come out with a status report on the progress of Polavaram project so that people would know whether the Centre was doing injustice or benefits to the state.

“It is time the Chief Minister reveals all the facts pertaining to the execution of Polavaram project in the form of a white paper at the earliest,” former MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar said.